Ottawa has released the long-awaited details of the federal government’s pharmacare plan with an initial commitment to cover some diabetes treatments and contraception.
But it remains unclear whether Saskatchewan will follow Alberta’s lead to opt out of the plan.
If the bill, C-64, passes Parliament, the federal government will begin negotiating with the provinces and territories on a funding commitment to cover the cost of providing these medications to people for free.
Health Minister Mark Holland said Thursday that he hopes Canadians can access the program sometime this year, however many uncertainties make an actual start date hard to pinpoint.
On Friday, the Saskatchewan government said in an emailed statement that it needs more information about the program. The province already has one of the most comprehensive drug coverage plans in Canada, the statement said.
“Our residents are currently being provided protection from high drug costs through several provincially operated programs. At this time, the cost to the province for a national pharmacare program being implemented in Saskatchewan is unknown,” the statement said.
The government said in a statement earlier in the week that Saskatchewan is “not interested in reducing the scope of its existing drug plan to align with a new national plan if the new plan will result in reduced benefits.”
The province is open to discussions with the federal government regarding the program, the statement said.
One in four Canadians with diabetes — about 3.7 million people — have reported they’re not following their treatment plans due to the cost, according to the federal government.
David Blackburn, professor and associate dean of research at the college of pharmacy and nutrition at the University of Saskatchewan, said while it’s a complicated goal, anything to reduce the burden of drug costs is worthwhile.
“Diabetes is incredibly common and part of the way we live in Canada and our lifestyles. Diabetes applies to a very high number of adults in Canada,” he said Thursday.
But Blackburn said that diabetes care is more than just blood-sugar reducing drugs, as diabetics have vulnerabilities to many other conditions requiring other types of drugs too.
“It would be naive of us to think that all of a sudden all diabetics are going to have free drugs.”
Many questions remain unanswered: prof
Blackburn said many details around administration and infrastructure are still needed.
“What we don’t want to see is a person who lives in Saskatchewan getting the same amount of support they always did, but it’s just now coming from the feds instead of the provincial government. We don’t want to see just a switch in who’s paying,” he said.
“We want to see people who are not receiving enough support to get more support so that they’re actually reducing their burden.”
Reporters pressed Mark Holland on the cost of pharmacare as he announced the launch of the program on Thursday. Holland says it will take time to work out the cost of the new service.
Provincial NDP health critic Vicki Mowat said in an emailed statement that a national pharmacare plan would be good for all Canadians.
“Too many people in Saskatchewan don’t have access to the medications they need, and the Sask. Party government needs to get to the table and ensure a deal that provides coverage for diabetes medication and contraceptives for everyone in our province,” the statement said.
Plan would be good for Sask.: community group
Caitlin Cottrell, executive director of Saskatoon Sexual Health, said a national pharmacare plan would be a step in the right direction.
“We in Canada like to brag that we have universal health care. We don’t,” she said. “This is one step closer to actually achieving what we purport to provide to our population.”
The pharmacare plan will give nine million Canadians of reproductive age better access to contraception to ensure “reproductive autonomy, reducing the risk of unintended pregnancies and improving their ability to plan for the future,” the federal government said in its media release.
Saskatoon Sexual Health provides contraceptive counselling and prescribes contraception ranging from short-acting reversible contraceptives like birth control pills to long-acting reversible contraceptives like intrauterine devices. Cottrell said since long-acting contraceptives run between $300 and $500, accessibility is a challenge, while short-acting contraceptives cost between $20 and $50 a month.
The federal Liberal government and the NDP have agreed on a framework for new pharmacare legislation, paving the way to making some prescription drugs free in Canada. Andrew Chang examines why the first phase of the proposed plan will cover some contraception and diabetes treatments, and what questions still remain.
She said the need in the community is “enormous,” with people coming on a daily basis to seek contraceptive care and multiple visits every week by people seeking termination care, or abortions.
“A huge proportion of people who are seeking termination are because of either a lack of access to contraception or a failure of their contraceptive method.”
Cottrell said they do have a small amount of funding to help people who can’t afford contraceptives, but they run “through those funds fairly quickly every fiscal year.”
The Alberta government has said it will opt out of the federal government’s pharmacare program and Cottrell said she hopes Saskatchewan doesn’t follow suit.
“I’m definitely feeling some frustration and fear. These are steps that can provide enormous amounts of protection to health,” she said.
“So to have something being offered to the population of Canada and for the government to make a decision to not include that for their population, I feel is very short sighted.”
Cottrell said Saskatchewan has the highest rates of teen pregnancy in Canada and skyrocketing STD rates and the worst rate of new HIV infections in Canada.
“This national pharmacare plan would be a huge boon for many people and not just young women, but everyone who is of childbearing age.… It would be a huge cost savings,” she said.
“If we can even touch two small areas of health care, contraception and diabetes medication, the impact will be enormous. I do feel that we are regressing in a lot of our health politics and policies in Saskatchewan right now and that’s really concerning.”
